So....I don't know whether to feel a bit good because I managed to copy an awesome baby's jacket from Big W's latest winter range,
or whether I should feel a bit bad for 'stealing' their idea ... (there is a bit of redemption in the fact that the yarn I used was bought from their store!?!) ... anyhow, imitation being the greatest form of flattery and all that, my daughter asked if I could make her a jacket similar to this one in the new Big W catalogue ... (sorry for the blurriness). I already had all of the ya
rn except the orange in my stash, so after viewing it in the shop, I went home and set about knitting :) There were some things that I hadn't
tried before ... the knitted on hood with the back 'seam' increases, the zip and placket, and the curved diagonal pockets. I'm really happy with how they all turned out, other than the hood is a little too pixie like (something that I can work on next time). I made this 'test' jacket in a small size (about 6 months), and have now started a bigger one to fit my grandson, who
will be about 18 months when the colder weather arrives in Adelaide. I love what I've learnt along the way, and now have plans to tweek the next jacket to get it just right :)
(In my enthusiasm to get the jacket finished, I forgot to write down all of the construction notes, but this is what I remember of the basics: I used 8ply yarn on size 4mm needles, knitted it top down from the neck edge starting with 54 sts, divided into 24 for the back, 12 for each front and 3 for each sleeve. I increased until there were 52 for the back, 26 for the fronts and 31 for the sleeves. Each colour bar has either 2 or 4 rows of reversed stocking stitch. The body from the underarm is 26 rows, and the same for the sleeves. The pocket started at the top with 8 sts, increasing 1st at rows 7,11,13,15,16,17,18,19,20, then worked straight for about 8 rows. The neck stitches were picked up for the hood, with a stitch marker in the centre back, and then an increase stitch either side of this on every other row, until the hood was the correct width (my first attempt was pretty bad, or actually pretty good if it was being made as a Christmas Elf costume! My second attempt was slightly better ... but not heaps ;D)
... sketchy details I know, but hopefully enough to get some more made :D)
